Unlike the Cold War era, in which realist perceptions about the global world order were prevalent, the explanation of roots of conflicts has since then increasingly shifted towards questions of...Show moreUnlike the Cold War era, in which realist perceptions about the global world order were prevalent, the explanation of roots of conflicts has since then increasingly shifted towards questions of culture and ethnicity. According to Samuel Huntington (1993, 1996), who introduced the notion of a clash of civilization, civilizations are fundamentally characterized by their respective religions. In concrete terms, it became a widely shared assumption that classical (realist) conflicts caused by economic, territorial or power-related motives were outdated. This thesis aims to build its argumentation on this “revitalization of religion” while aiming to assess the two opposing roles of Israelis and Palestinians as securitizing actors, which consistently invoke religion in their securitizing policies (Laustsen/Waever 2000: 705). These are fueled by myths and opposing identities that create an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ phenomenon. The human need for identity and its social construction is thus key for the further analysis. Taking a starting point from Lucke’s and McLarren’s (2017) work, the question is raised whether and how religion should be included within the securitizing framework. This work is based on the idea that religion is easily securitized by actors who base their entire argumentation on an existential threat posed by the ‘enemy’ against them.Show less
